I did a search of the forums and could not really find anything that specifically addresses the problem I am having although some finds were similar.

I have a Dell Inspirion 9300 with 6USB ports. Any USB device I connect to it works great. That is, all except the Propeller Demo Board, which is brand new. This board has only connected twice to my computer and failed every other time, which is about 117 tries. The strange thing is, when I connect the USB port the red and blue LEDs flash and then the Propeller appears to reset as the yellow LEDs sequence. Then, the first time I press F7 it spends a few seconds on COM7 and then happily ignores it and says, No Propellers Found.

And yes, I did install the latest USB drivers from Parallax but that made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

Is this a known problem with this board? Seems odd that Parallax would release a product with this type of problem in that all they claim to be so user friendly.

Carl

simonl

01-22-2008, 12:23 AM

You're not the first! If I remember correctly, it has something to do with the number of 'pseudo serial' USB ports. Try disabling all but the one the board's on.

FYI: Parallax are working on an update to the PropTool that should overcome this.

BTW: Might get a better explanation if you search using: search.parallax.com/ (http://search.parallax.com/)

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Cheers,

Simon
-------------------------------
www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk (http://www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk)
You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Paul Sr.

01-22-2008, 12:37 AM

quickster47 said...
I did a search of the forums and could not really find anything that specifically addresses the problem I am having although some finds were similar.

I have a Dell Inspirion 9300 with 6USB ports. Any USB device I connect to it works great. That is, all except the Propeller Demo Board, which is brand new. This board has only connected twice to my computer and failed every other time, which is about 117 tries. The strange thing is, when I connect the USB port the red and blue LEDs flash and then the Propeller appears to reset as the yellow LEDs sequence. Then, the first time I press F7 it spends a few seconds on COM7 and then happily ignores it and says, No Propellers Found.

And yes, I did install the latest USB drivers from Parallax but that made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

Is this a known problem with this board? Seems odd that Parallax would release a product with this type of problem in that all they claim to be so user friendly.

Carl

They wouldn't, it's not the Prop / FTDI!

Try this:

- Plug the cable in to a USB Port
- Open Control Panel / System / Device Manager
- expand PORTS
- Double click on the port the Prop is on
- Find the LATENCY adjustment (I believe it is under advanced) and REDUCE the number (try 1)

It should now be much more reliable!

quickster47

01-22-2008, 08:48 PM

Thanks for the help guys. And using what you provided I have been successful at least 50% of the time which is a significant improvement. I can at least move forward with some meaningful Propeller development.

Carl

simonl

01-22-2008, 09:02 PM

Hi Carl,

Parallax have just released PropTool v1.06 which should help ;) (www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/sw/propeller/Setup-Propeller-Tool-v1.06.exe (http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/sw/propeller/Setup-Propeller-Tool-v1.06.exe)

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Cheers,

Simon
-------------------------------
www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk (http://www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk)
You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

quickster47

01-23-2008, 09:00 PM

Installed the new version of Propeller Tools (1.06) and things have deteriorated now beyond recovery. Computer never ever sees the propeller demo board anymore.

So, this morning I have now tried the same version of five different computers, one of them has a single USB port so no trouble scanning, and none of them could find a Propeller attached.

As a sanity check I was able to attach my Parallax Penguin, uses the same USB connectivity, to all six of the computers with no problems, so more and more I now believe the Parallax Propeller sent to me is a POS and does not work and never will work as far as connecting to any computer.

I guess the next step will be to contact Parallax sales directly and return it and wait another few weeks for a replacement. Sigh... This is so disheartening because most of the time I have had excellent luck with all their other products.

Needless to say, but I will anyway, my enthusiasm for the Propeller is waning rapidly.

Carl

simonl

01-23-2008, 09:05 PM

Hey Carl, don't let it get ya' down - the Prop' really is worth all the effort.

I'd have to agree that it does look like a demo board problem though - shame.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Cheers,

Simon
-------------------------------
www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk (http://www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk)
You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

quickster47

01-23-2008, 11:21 PM

simonl,

Since I can see, and did read, that you are also a heli flyer I am going to take your advise seriously because I also fly helis and I know that to suceed you must persevere and keep after it.

Just waiting to hear from Parallax.

Carl

Paul Baker

01-24-2008, 06:08 AM

Carl, you shouldn't have this problem with multiple computers, call our tech support so that we can get you a new board, there must be either a short or an intermittant connection, this is the only explanation which would cause you being able to download twice then not again, either that or you somehow damaged the board.

I have been dealing with electronics for 40 years and am aware of all the careful handling procedures so I am 99.9999% sure I did not damage the board.· As I mentioned earlier in a post I thought from the beginning something was not right because when the USB port was plugged in the Propeller demo board would reset, sometimes more than once.

Regardless, I will contact support today.· And I really do appreciate your reply.